Mullah Nasrudin and the Eulogy

Mullah Nasruddin was in a contemplative mood, drinking coffee with his friends. They found themselves pondering death and the legacy they would leave behind.
“When you are lying wrapped in your shroud, with your friends and family mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?” asked a friend.
“I would like to hear them say that I was a great healer who saved hundreds of lives,” said the local hakeem.
The barber stroked his ample beard and said, “I would like to hear that I was a great father to my children and raised a fine brood who will bring honour to our tribe for generations to come.”
The Mullah smiled at their words. “Well, what I’d really like to hear them say is ‘Look! He’s MOVING!!!” he exclaimed.

!

 

Dreamlands

Have you ever woken from a half-remembered dream, feeling like you’ve returned from a journey of a thousand leagues or more? I’ve  just discovered the quirky, dark and playful landscapes of Jacek Yerka.  Got to love his dreamlands, even if they make your head spin a little.

Erosion

Homestead

Garden squared

Brick and Stone

 

Women’s rights in Islam? Enough talk! Walk the walk.

Salams and Juma’ Mubarak,

I could say a lot about this video – that I’ve been waiting for someone like him to say something like this for longer than I care to recall. That it’s an overdue wake-up call to the Ummah, especially those of us in the West…but I’ll let the Shaykh do the talking.

The video is only 13 minutes long and it starts with an appeal on behalf of a destitute woman. Shaykh Habib Ali al Jifri then reacts to what he hears, and tells it like it is.

“To the men, especially those who are religious – before looking right and left, look at yourself. How do you view women? Your night prayers, your daily fasts, your memorization of scripture, your charity, your pilgrimage, your knowledge and your teaching, your struggles for the sake of God – everything you do – won’t get you to a point where you are something before God if you don’t let all of that pass through the gateway of benevolence to women.”

May Allah grant us the tawfeeq to stop talking and walk the walk. May we establish justice within our communities before we are held to account for it on the Day of Judgement. Ameen.

 

To Fly

Reblogged from Steve McCurry's Blog:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

To read is to fly:
it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view
over  wide terrains of history,
human variety, ideas, shared experience and the
fruits of many inquiries.
- A. C. Grayling

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road.

Read more… 455 more words

A gallery of photos by one of my favourite photographers, on the theme of one of my favourite things. Enjoy.

 

Unexpected Muslims – Lord Stanley the Brother Baron

I thought I’d start a collection of  ‘Unexpected Muslims’ – living or late, converts or born into the faith, whose lives challenge our preconceptions of what a Muslim ought to be. The collection will include people who’ve done something unexpected, unusual or outright eccentric with their lives – like deciding to become Muslim in 19th century England.

Our first unexpected muslim is Henry the brother baron, born in 1827. Or to give him his full title, Henry Edward John Stanley, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley and 2nd Baron Eddisbury (11 July 1827 – 10 December 1903). He may have adopted the name Abdur Rahman.

Couldn’t find a photo, sorry, so here’s his dad instead – Edward John Stanley.

Henry could have lived an unremarkable life as just another member of the Victorian British aristocracy. Instead in 1862, aged 35, he converted to Islam. Incidentally, his sister was the mother of Bertrand Russell, the Nobel prize-winning philosopher and agnostic anti-war activist.

 

Fastin’, Feastin’, Sharin’

I spotted the ‘Dine @ Mine’ project and had to share. It’s an excellent initiative that’s reviving the sunnah of our beloved Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to sit down and break bread, khubz or roti with your neighbours.

You can offer to host an iftar and the organisers will put you in touch with a brave local volunteer, willing to sample your cuisine. It’s part of the Ramadan Festival ( ‘fastival’?) and has proven to be so popular that they’re extending the week to all of Ramadan. The idea is also starting to go international, with families in South Africa, India and the US joining in.

Main page here: http://www.ramadanfestival.org/?p=505
See also Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DineAtMineWeek

 

Ramadan Mubarak one and all!

Ramadan Mubarak, and what a Ramadan it is this year. Eighteeeen hour fasts I tell ya! And it’s sorting the fluffy lambs from the mountain sheep and no mistake. Some have fled for foreign shores, with shorter hours, but the rest of us stoics are keeping it together in these unusually sunny days.  And d’you know, it’s actually not that bad. Except for that last killer hour before sunset when your furry tongue sits heavy in your mouth, and your stomach contemplates divorcing you and moving in with the fat kid next door.

And every year, just as you fall for Ramadan all over again – mind over body, spirit over nafs (ego), getting the hang of it, tasting the sweetness…suddenly it’s Eid. So enjoy it while you can, because you know you’ll be missing it sooner than you think.